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Athens ’87 Restored: Ben Findlay interviewed for Society of Sound

29th October, 2012

In October 1987 the worldwide tour of ‘So’ arrived in the elevated surroundings of the hillside open-air theatre at Lykabetos, overlooking Athens. Recorded and filmed over three nights, the Athens shows provide a fascinating document of those heady times.

In 2012, 25 years later, producer Ben Findlay was given the assignment to restore and remix the audio recorded at Athens. Simultaneously, 150 reels of original 35mm film negatives have also undergone months of painstaking scanning, restoration and editing work.

After 25 years Peter Gabriel wanted to see if the archives held enough material to recreate the full 1987 concert experience. Ben was tasked with sifting through all the original analog multi-track tapes, making the transfers of the audio to the digital world and, if it existed, mixing the relevant material – using all the digital world can bring to get the best out of the original analog recordings.

In an interview with Society of Sound, Ben Findlay explains the process. Society of Sound members have the opportunity to download selected tracks from the concert in 24 bit studio quality, available for a limited time until November 6th.